TBT #05 – The Samoan roots of Tim Cahill

Timothy Filiga Cahill, more known as Tim Cahill is one of the greatest Australian players of all time. However he also has Samoan roots and he represented Samoa at youth level in the 90s.

Born in Sydney, Australia, Tim Cahill and his brother Sean (goalkeeper) were invited by Football Federation Samoa to play 1994 OFC U-20 Championship for them. Cahill was just 14 years old by that time – “They asked if I would take part, even though I was only 14 at the time and it was an under-20 tournament. I saw it simply as a chance to go on holiday because my grandmother was ill at the time in Samoa. I turned up for a couple of training sessions and never attended any of the team meetings.” he said. Tim also has a younger brother called Chris that capped 15 times for Samoa National Football Team.

He played two matches in the tournament. He came from the bench in the 3-0 loss against New Zealand and played in the 3-0 loss against Vanuatu.

These two caps for Samoa U-20 made him ineligible to represent Australia until 2004 when FIFA changed its eligibility rules, allowing players capped at junior levels to switch international allegiance, meaning that Cahill was then able to play for England, Ireland, Australia or Samoa. He chose to represent the country of his birth and became a legend.

He debuted for Australia National Team in a friendly against South Africa on 30 March 2004. Despite debuting for National Team at 25 years old, Cahill managed to score 50 goals for Socceroos and he helped his country to play four World Cups – 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018.